Bethesda Trademarks 'Hearthfire'; Could Be Next Round of Skyrim DLC

Lots of circumstantial evidence here and nothing in the way of a confirmation, so feel free to consume this news with an appropriate-sized grain of salt. But the company that brought you Skyrim and its Dawnguard expansion has filed a trademark for "Hearthfire" a move that, combined with the description for the filing, seems like it could be Skyrim's next round of DLC.

Here's that trademark description:

"Computer game software for use with computers and video game consoles; downloadable computer game software offered via the internet and wireless devices."

Hearthfire is the ninth month of the year in the Elder Scrolls universe… so think of it as the game's version of September.

Getting a bit ahead of ourselves, here's a nice bit of potential prognostication form VentureBeat on what type of content could be involved with a Hearthfire content drop:

According to The Elder Scrolls lore, the third of that month is Tales and Tallows, an unofficial holiday that celebrates the dark magic of necromancy. Necromancers primarily deal in reanimating the dead. This has led some to speculate that Hearthfire could be Skyrim’s version of Undead Nightmare, which brought zombies into wild-west simulator Red Dead Redemption.